The annual budget for the New Hampshire Department of Corrections is more than $90 million. Housing, feeding and health care for one inmate averages $35,000 per year.

By the time a convict starts serving a prison sentence, the costs have already mounted from police investigations, public defenders, court time and often months spent in county jail waiting for trial.

In Nottingham two years ago, a veteran investigator discovered that some of the suspects he arrested were collecting unemployment checks and Social Security benefits from behind bars.

"When somebody lands their butt in prison, they probably shouldn't be paid for their bad acts -- period," said Police Chief Gunnar Foss.

Foss said the first case came to light in 2011. Doug Harris had been convicted of theft. He was sentenced to the Rockingham County House of Corrections and ordered to pay restitution.

Suspicion arose when an unemployed relative of Harris began making the restitution payments, police said.

"Follow-up by the investigator revealed that someone connected to Mr. Harris applied for benefits in his name," Foss said.

According to police reports, state records confirmed that Harris collected $408 per week from mid-June to mid-September in 2010. He collected $4,080 in all before Nottingham police blew the whistle, pressed charges, got a conviction for receiving stolen property and got every cent back.

"We don't want anybody gaming the system where they're incarcerated and getting benefits or working and collecting benefits at the same time," said Commissioner George Copadis of the Division of Employment Services.

Copadis said a new cross-match system is in place at his department that aims to stop inmate fraud before it can happen. Since 2012, computer rosters from the state prison are matched on a daily basis against unemployment claims.

Not all county jails are online yet.

"Right now, we've got Cheshire and Coos counties, but we're looking to develop the same process with all the counties," Copadis said.

There are other ways that inmates can collect benefits legally. Inmates can often receive Social Security benefits while they're in jail.

Regulations from the Social Security Administration say recipients of SSDI -- or disability benefits -- can continue to collect during incarceration until they are actually convicted.

Nottingham police said a woman they arrested on burglary charges in the fall has been in county jail since November and collects $700 per month in disability benefits. The woman is accused of selling prescription pills that she purchased with her SSDI check.

"When we're police officers in a profession where we guard against theft, some of this stuff seems akin to that," Foss said.

Belknap and other county jails are working with the Social Security Administration to flag inmates receiving benefits. The SSA pays jails $400 for every inmate found to be in violation. Jail wardens call it a finder's fee.

"We're in a day and age when people are critical of the system, and when they tell us we're going to run out of money, it makes you wonder why we're not policing it a little better to ensure that the money is properly spent," Foss said.

If a suspect is convicted, benefits are typically stopped, but there is an exception. Regulations state that Social Security retirement and survivor benefits can be collected while a person is incarcerated.